Thank you to NetGalley.

It was a frustrating and hard book to read in my opinion. Sort of sad and depressing but yet I couldn't stop reading it and it was fast reading.

I was sort of aware what was going to happen in this life of a Chasidic woman who was pregnant with twins but refused to tell her family, hiding her whole pregnancy, especially her husband even though she tried to tell him but could not do so for some reason. How can a woman go 9 months without noone noticing and how could she keep such a secret and tell the mid-wife at the hospital where she went for pre-natal care and not her own family of 10 children -- 3 still living at home (boys) and a daughter who lived below her in the same house? Her daughter thought she was kidding when she tried to tell her. She thought she was just fat w/extra layers

Goldie Goldbloom has written a positive and comforting novel about the Chasidic community.
On Division gives the reader a view into this closed Williamsburg community, showing both positive and unpleasant sides. The reader can take away their own view in the end, but this is a book that wants to give the reader a change to appreciate how people who live in these kinds of communities and stay there are feeling.

In most of the books that come out about the very religious Jewish sects, the stories are about how these authors do not fit in and have left their families behind to find a new life in the secular world.
In this novel, that is written by a Chasidic woman who stays and works from within the Jewish religious world, we see a different perspective .

Suri is a mother, grandmother and is about to become a great-grandmother. She has gone through menopause and even is a breast cancer survivor. Her family has been a pillar in the community until the tragic death of her oldest son. Now when her latest daughter got married Suri feels the match was not as prestigious, that their standing the community has been lessened. If people were to find she was pregnant what would happen to their standing int he community then? She is also worried about what her family will think so she starts to keep it a secret from everyone including her husband.

She goes to the midwife and is convinced to start regular weekly visits to the hospital for checkups for health reasons. These she does in secret. She gets more and more involved in working with midwife to help other pregnant women coming to the hospital clinic. As the secret is kept and more secrets are kept, Suri starts to feel the power of having these parts of her that other people do not know about her. She also begins to understand how her son felt, that as a young gay man in a community that was not accepting of homosexuality, he was keeping a secret that hurt.
Suri realizes that she did not help her son enough. She finds a way int he end to come to peace with what happened and know that if she could have it to do over she would do things differently.

Suri comes to the realization that she is apart of the Chasidic life and she can see both the pros and cons of that life, but that it is the place she is comfortable. She invites the midwife to come to her home for a Purim celebration. Val the midwife is uncomfortable with all the noise and chaos. She is upset by the fact that everything in this Jewish home revolves around marriage and children. She wants to know why Suri doesn't want more of life for herself or for her daughters and granddaughters. Suri explains to her, "What else is there? The whole life of a Jew is devoted to family. There is no end to that cycle. Think of Dead Onyo, in another community she would be in a nursing home, alone. No one would know that she makes excellent poppy-seed jam. Instead, here, she is loved. Her great-grandchildren sit in her lap every day. She will never be moved to a nursing home because there will always be someone to rake care of her."

In the end isn't that what all of us want? To be loved and cared for and never alone? There is something to be said in favor of some of the rules that govern the Chasidic and other Orthodox sects of Judaism. This book helps point out that it is not all black and white. There are so many shades of gray, that there are good parts and restrictive parts to every experience in life. We all have to choose where on the spectrum we are most comfortable living.

What to say about this book? It's complicated!

Thought provoking, frustrating, disturbing, sometimes uplifting and even enlightening, this book is certainly insightful.

I think the cover blurb says more than enough about the actual story so I won't even try to add to that, except to mention the protagonist and the effect her story had on me.

Living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Surie Eckstein is a respected member of Brooklyn's Chassidic community.
She is a fifty seven year old mother of ten children ranging in age from thirteen to thirty nine, a doting grandmother of thirty two grandchildren, and soon to be proud great-grandmother.
Surie was sixteen when she met and married her husband Yidel who is now aged sixty two and looking forward very soon to some quiet time with his beloved wife. Yidel is planning his retirement from his occupation as a scribe of Torah scrolls. Carefully written on his specially hand prepared skins, his work is in much demand for it's authentic quality.

As a community, they are very much isolated from the wider community in that they observe and practice very strict customs as they live mostly independently within that community.
Surie and Yidel are very much in love with each other and their lives together, and apart from the occasional small transgressions, live in blissful harmony with their family which consists of three generations living on three separate floors of the same building.

With all of their children now grown and starting their own lives Surie and Yidel are excited at the time to come where they have time for themselves and their grandchildren.
So when Surie discovers that she is pregnant...impossibly, against all odds, she is thrown into a bit of a headspin. (So was I to be honest!)
Not just for the obvious implications, but for myriad reasons relating to the Chassidic doctrines, this is just not an acceptable condition for a woman of her situation and age.
Then there are the moral and ethical implications. Suddenly Surie's harmonic life is turned completely upside down and she begins to spiral into a....what, denial???
She takes us with her as she imagines every single thing, every single reason why she should not be pregnant, and yet she can't bring herself to tell her husband, or anyone else. She is alone in a nightmare of her own design and yet she still can't bring herself to tell her secret.
Days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months and still she is hoping for some sort of divine intervention to save her from the torment of this inevitability...this secret.
She knows it is inevitable and she knows all the risks involved, and yet she is stuck in a kind of numb limbo where she cannot see any way out.
Every day she grows bigger and still, (because of their strict beliefs?) nobody says anything nor seems to notice...nor does she. She understands that it will soon be too late to take alternative action, but she also understands that such a course is out of the question anyway.
She is truly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Where so many everyday small common gestures that we [gentiles] take for granted, are considered to be transgressions to the Chassidic community, it is absolutely mind boggling to imagine what Surie must have put herself through during the course of this situation.
So many do's and dont's during the course of an average day, which change accordingly for every changing circumstance, such as the simple act of touching the hand of a man/husband in front of others is not permitted. Everyday rituals must be adhered to but also change according to circumstances, such as when a woman bleeds, or is pregnant for instance, then the rules are different again and when followed can be deciphered by those witnessing the events...exacerbating Suri's fear of exposure.
So when Surie got pregnant it became obvious to her that by keeping this secret, she was committing many, many transgressions every day, and also causing her unwitting husband and family to do likewise.
"Oh what a tangled web we weave"...
I must confess that whilst reading this book I was wringing my hands a lot with the frustration and angst that Surie was enduring, and many times I felt her despair.
But I also felt a lot of her despair was borne out of ignorance, because of her/their blind faith so much information and resources were either unavailable or unknown to her...forbidden.

This is an enlightening story in many ways, it is also a story that begs many questions as to the sagacity of imposing such rigid doctrines upon innocent people living in a not-so-innocent world.
Trying to embrace her rigid faith in a world full of natural pitfalls, Surie was a square peg, trying to exist honorably in a round hole.

A lot of what I learned from reading this book made me sad, because it seemed that in trying to create an honorable and uncomplicated existence for their people, this doctrine in fact bred an even more vulnerable and complicated community by refusing to acknowledge the condition of human nature.

Another sad example of Surie's culture is that many English words have no Yiddish translation. For example there is no word in the Yiddish language for "please" so they would say it in english when out of earshot or desperate to be heard...because many situations require their own word.
So many specific Yiddish expressions or words I had to look up to find their meaning.

4⭐️'s

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my digital copy to read and review.

This book is captivating for so many reasons. I appreciated the chance to learn about a culture that is different form my own experience, especially in this time of such division throughout the world. This book captures so many aspects of the protagonist, Surie who is the mother to nine and grandmother to many finds herself pregnant at the age of 57. The issues are diverse and fascinating. You can't help but feel for her dilemma and her thought process as she formulates a plan to navigate these conditions in her ultra-orthodox community.
This is a rich, well-written, family and cultural story that is a blessing to have the opportunity to read.
Highly recommend.
#OnDivision #Netgalley #FarrarStrausandGiroux

Once a chasm opens, can it be repaired? Taking place in what isn't identified as such but is the Satmar community in Brooklyn, 57 year old Surie finds herself pregnant with twins during a check up appointment. She's happily married, a grandmother, and terrified of sharing the secret with her husband and family. This is a community where reputation is everything, affecting the schools your children can attend and who your children will marry. With a blight already on their otherwise perfect family name, Surie worries about marrying off her 4 remaining children still at home. This secret changes the course of her life, as she feels more emboldened to keep other secrets.

I loved this book, though it did drag a bit in the middle. The ripple of the secret is so powerful, I felt for Surie and wanted desperately to know what happens. I didn't want it to end, the ending came so fast. While the other characters were barely developed, Surie was such a strong character. I also appreciated how the ultra-Orthodox was shown, it was nuanced with real depictions of the holidays and Shabbat. That can be hard to find in literature, but was so well done here.

This is a well written story of family secrets and cultural expectations which takes a woman down the hard journey of self-examination when she discovers at age 57 she is pregnant with twins. Because she is worried about the acceptance of her community, family and more importantly her husband, she puts off sharing her “good news”.

Surie’s “secret” soon becomes entwined with the unspoken grief she is experiencing over the loss of one of her sons who was shunned for being gay. Almost as an act of rebellion she decides to keep quiet until she can make her husband and family face their loss. She then virtually avoids them by keeping late hours volunteering (or hiding) at the downtown pregnancy clinic. As she helps others, a new awareness is birthed and she begins to question the restrictive and conforming lifestyle of her religious community.

I really waffled with my rating on this one. The insight into NY’s Williamsburg community of Chassidic Jews was completely fascinating. The author did an exceptional job portraying the life and celebrations of these deeply devoted people. But I completely disagreed with Surie’s decision to keep the pregnancy from her husband who seemed like a kind and loving partner. I felt the excuses she told herself did not warrant the continued deception.

It was an intense book to read and I was not completely satisfied with the resolution in the final chapters. It felt incomplete, which could very well have been intentional. But it really down-leveled my reading experience.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oh My, THIS BOOK…….is *****FABULOUS*****

NO SPOILERS

I have around 100 close friends I want to say…READ IT,…. (Jewish or not Jewish) — If ‘you’ are reading this review: I recommend it to you!!!

Its brilliant — wonderful — a story that needed to be written!!!!

If you are willing to go in blind —do that! Its a book to read- enjoy and discuss.

Its the VERY BEST book I’ve ever read about the moral complexities of the Chassidic community.

You’ll laugh — you’ll feel sad — you’ll be moved….with terrific characters…and an awesome protagonist.
…….You’ll examine your own thoughts about your own beliefs -traditions - and customs.

It would be so easy to write a longer review —share the details — but I’m holding back —hoping readers will trust me when I say, there is something in here for everyone.


The author, Goldie Goldbloom, is Hasidic. A mother of eight. She reveals the inner world of the Ultra-Orthodox Jews.

The humor is marvelous. The Issues imperative!!!!


Thank you VERY MUCH to Farrar, Straus, and Giroux….. ( I’ll be talking about this book for a long time —telling people in my own community to read it). Thanks to Negalley for all the work they provide for early readers, too.
A special thank you to the author: Goldie Goldbloom: I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!

This book provided an in-depth look at life within the insular Chassidic community. However, the third person perspective left me feeling no connection to the characters. I think I would have preferred a first person perspective for this story.

Surie, at the age of 57, is pregnant with twins. She already has 32 grandchildren. She fears for her family’s reputation. None of her peers have been pregnant within the past decade. Ashamed, she begins lying to her husband for the first time in their marriage. She and her children will be shunned if others find out about her pregnancy. I couldn’t really connect with Surie’s feelings given the narrative was an observation.

This book is good for people who have an interest in learning about the lives of the Chassid. Goldblum presents their lives in a very respectful manner, revealing the positives of such a close-knit community along with its negatives.

Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the advance e-galley. Opinions expressed are my own.

Fantastically written glimpse into the Satmar sect. Highly recommend this book. Thank you to the publisher for sharing this advanced reader copy via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

I managed to read about 1/3 of the book and ultimately had to put it down. The book is very repetitive and trite. I could not become emotionally involved with any of the characters. The story did not seem to get anyplace.

“So much of a person’s life is hidden from even her husband, her best friends, her children. A whole world of thoughts and images that no one ever knows about.”

Division is both the name of the street our protagonist Surie and her extended family live on and the central theme of the story. Surie Eckstein is 57 and a Hasidic Jew with 10 children and a husband, Yidel, who is a renowned scribe. Their family is well respected in their very tightly woven Hasidic community in Brooklyn, well respected but as we learn early on, with some caveats. One of their sons left the fold, went off the derech, due to his homosexuality and this causes so much pain both to the standing of their family (and by extension, the kind of marriage prospects the Ekstein children and grandchildren have) but also to Surie as a mother. While trying to come to grips with all that’s happened with this son, Surie discovers she has somehow fallen pregnant. At 57.

Babies are a blessing in Judaism, and so much of Jewish life revolves around the family. Yet Surie has all kinds of conflicting thoughts and is unable to tell even her husband about the pregnancy for reasons that aren’t even clear to her at first. She is worried about what people will think and say, certain this late in life pregnancy will ruin what standing her family has left in the community. She is worried she maybe hasn’t been such a great parent after what happened with her son. Not to mention her age and that it had been so many years since she had raised an infant.

This book blew me away and I began my review with that quote because so much of it is an incredible portrait of Surie’s own inner world, all the thoughts and images in her mind, all the things she can never share or tell a soul. We also get to see Hasidic family life and the inner workings of her marriage to Yigel, a marriage that has been so loving and so well matched in a community where that is so often not the case. Yet even when one has a loving and devoted husband of so many years, it still isn’t always easy to share oneself and one’s inner pain. There is a lot of unspoken pain in this book and the neuroses that spring up from keeping so much inside.

I read an incredible amount of Judaica and this book struck me as so quintessentially Jewish. Not even so much because we see the daily life and holidays and Shabbos celebrations of the family, but for that intense inner focus I mentioned. I’ve always found interesting, for as communal as our religion is, so much of Jewish life is also very private and perhaps there’s something about being a Jew- all the trauma both inherited and personal (Surie and her family are the descendants of Romanian holocaust survivors and this plays a role in the story too) that sometimes makes us dare I say, a bit neurotic? Or maybe just more in touch with all the conflicting emotions and things that make us human. To an extent I’m reminded of Woody Allen, yet Surie’s neuroses are different, female certainly, but as the book progresses we come to see the reasons for them which I think makes this book especially unique. It’s a family story and a Jewish story, yet so profoundly personal and an incredible character study on a level I’ve never seen. Surie is so real. I have never seen an author get so deeply into a character’s head before. It’s almost voyeuristic to an extent just how deep we go. I don’t know that I would’ve ever reacted the way Surie did (I, myself am the “miracle” child of much older parents and know more than most both the judgements that accompanies and the joy). Yet, as I read I came to understand Surie. By the end I was blown away by just how much.

Growing up, I used to wish I could bring another person inside my mind, to have someone understand me so fully and to never be alone. As an adult I’m not so sure I’d ever want that and as I got older I realized just how impossible that would be. Somehow though, that’s exactly what Goldie Goldbloom accomplishes here, with all the good and bad, the pain and the joy, everything inside of and that makes Surie who she is, is laid out before us. I’ve never seen anything quite like it and am truly in awe of Goldbloom’s immense talent. I didn’t always love where the story went or the decisions Surie made yet getting to see inside of her and the reasons why, or the reasons she believed she must do the things she did, was an incredible journey.

There’s so much more I would love to discuss at length about this book but I really don’t want to spoil it and would highly recommend going into this one without knowing much more than the summary given on the book itself. This is a book that is as much about the journey as the destination anyway. And my gosh, what a journey!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author, and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for giving me an early review copy of the book!

Amazing book - 4.5 stars

On Division is a book about many things: religion, love, loss, families, marriage, traditions, and finally and importantly - the choices we make.
It’s hard to imagine (for me at least), but Surie Eckstein is 57 years old, has 10 children and 32 grandchildren, and is pregnant. The story unfolds over the course of her pregnancy and we get to know Surie and her family. Especially poignant and haunting for me were the heartbreaking sections about her son, Lipa.
In On Division, we learn about a segment of modern day society that is rarely written about in fiction - the Chassidic Jews in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. While the book is set in present day, the characters navigate their lives following a myriad of rules that they and their ancestors have lived under for hundreds of years.
On Division is a well written and fascinating book and it has stayed with me for some time. Thanks to Netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the opportunity to read On Division in exchange for an honest review. (less)

I enjoy books that help me learn about new cultures and communities. On Division introduces the reader to the Chasidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This novel handles moral issues with care and understanding. I will be reviewing in full on my blog after the publication date.

On Division by Goldie Goldbloom is a fabulous religious-themed literary fiction piece.
This novel is focussed mainly on Surie- a grandmother (soon to be great-grandmother), mother, wife, and fixture of her Chasidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklynn.
Surie, much to the shock and horror she thinks, finds out that she is pregnant with twins.
This life-altering, seismic revelation shocks her to her core and brings up fundamental questions that she realizes were there all along during the 40ish years she has been married to her gentle Yidel.
This “awakening” and the aftershocks that occur afterwards is where this author takes the reader.
Being a part of something so personal and so raw feels like you are looking into your own soul, and maybe you are.
The struggles that she and Yidel face, in some form or another, we all face no matter what religion or geographical location we inhabit.
The imagery of the location and the descriptions of the raw emotions that the author paints for the reader are stunning.
I truly enjoyed this book, and honestly wished it could have been twice as long.
Truly amazing read.

5/5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

This is the story of one woman’s struggle for her identity under the weight of family secrets, cultural expectations and gender roles. It is the story of Suri a 57 year old woman from Brooklyn’s strict Chasidic Jewish sect. Suri is both wife, mother, and grandmother to a well respected family in the community and lives a life that is fairly regimented and revolves around structure built by her religious beliefs and customs. Early on in the Story we learn the Suri is pregnant and though well past menopause, she has by some miracle from god conceived a set of twins, because she is so high risk, the clinic she goes to requires her to come every week and through these visits Suri develops a relationships with the staff who run the clinic even though she is really forbidden by her culture not to. Over time she begins to volunteer first as a translator and then as a midwives assistant. It is then that she realizes that she finds great joy. All the while keeping the news of her impending twins secret from her husband of 40 years and her family. The doctors and midwives grow ever more concerned about Suri and her babies health. Suri’s Recognition of her pregnancy recedes further from her thoughts, and past issues in the family simmer to the top causing strife between Suri, her husband and their community. The wrenching climax of this story takes a turn no reader would have expected. This book is a must read.

This is a beautifully written, heartwarming story which opens up a culture that is foreign to many of us and makes us realize that no matter your religion or your race we all live with the same problems as well as the same hopes and dreams. I loved this book and will recommend it wholeheartedly.

Suriel Eckstein is a 57 year old woman, could conceal a pregnancy, of twins, not only from her husband, Yidel, but also from her nine (living) children and over thirty grandchildren. Suriel knows it is selfish for her to want to keep these babies because, having them, will only bring shame to her family, revealing to the community the intimacy between herself and Yidel But what option does she really have? An abortion is forbidden. As the days and months pass, it becomes easier for Suriel to keep her secret then to share it with Yidel and her family, sparing herself (and her family) from the shame she is sure they will receive. Suriel bonds with the midwife, Val, who coincidentally was present, for all of her previous deliveries. This unusual bond between the two women, allows Val a rare opportunity to see the Chassidic community close up, and it permits Suriel to step outside her community for the first time in her life, conquering a fear that always existed within her. Author Goldie Goldbloom describes in brilliant detail the Jewish holiday celebrations, Division Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the sad fate of what happens when an individual does not fit the mould of what is expected to be accepted in Chassidic communitiesl. Community can comfort but as the story shows it can be something to fear as well. We ALL have to be open to, and accepting of, all individuals. Thank you #netgalley and @fsgbooks for giving my the opportunity to read #ondivision, 5 stars.

Surie is fifty seven she has suffered through breast cancer she’s a grandmother to many and she lives in the Chasidish community in Willamsburg Brooklyn ahighly orthodox an insular community with its own traditions.We read about the Jewish traditions that are followed the holidays daily life a fascinating look at a little known community.
Suri is pregnant with twins yes at fifty seven she and her husband still enjoy their intimate moments she’s pregnant but can’t bring herself to tell her husband.This is an involving intimatevlookat Suries life thoughts fears a really well written involving novel. #netgalley #fsg

The recent movie Disobedience made me interested to learn more about the traditional Jewish Chassidic community. This interest probably ties right into my fascination with cults and such, not to equate the two. And, since our library refuses to get Disobedience the book in ebook, and I found this one on Netgalley..learn I did, so many thanks to the improbably named Goldie Goldbloom. This is a story of a Chassidic community in Wiliamsburg, Brooklyn where a very traditional matriarch of a very traditional family finds herself (to her own and everyone’s great surprise) pregnant at 57. Surie Eckstein is a mother of ten, grandmother of 32 and soon to become a great grandmother. She is tired, heavily overweight and obviously isn’t thrilled about her predicament. And yet she proceeds with the pregnancy (for religious reasons alone she must), but does so in secret. Her weight helps conceal the physical effects and the unlikeliness of it all, takes care of the rest. And yet, because her pregnancy is considered high risk, she can’t do a traditional birth in her apartment and must venture into the real world i.e. Manhattan, but really anywhere outside of Division street is an adventure. It is these adventures and general exposure to the life outside of her small insular community that bring on a sort of late in life reawakening for Surie as she reexamines certain aspects of her life, especially the much contentious treatment of her gay son. It’s a fascinating personal journey of discovery, although in the end it isn’t certain where it goes. But then again my goal was to learn more about the Chassidic way of life and…well, it’s complex and, like most orthodoxy, incredibly restricting. The author did a great job of providing a balance perspective on this way of life…through Surie she explains the significance of a life led in service of one’s community, to have a strong community and familial support and structure, etc. Surie herself is in a four decade long loving marriage, she is close to her children and their children and her in laws even. But the privation their lifestyle requires is brutal. No technology, almost no phones, no music, no art, no movies, no deodorants, no bikes for kids (although toy guns, oddly enough, are permitted) and more. And, of course, as with most such things, it’s all ever so much worst for women, who are essentially treated as breeding machines (and the reproductions rates in the community are quite something), who can’t get an education, hold jobs or at least outside jobs, who must wear wigs and scarves over them. It’s absolutely brutal and primitive. And yet Surie doesn’t come across as oppressed, she simply follows a set of rules, she finds joys within her family. It is a life of value and meaning, just dramatically circumscribed. You will be loved and respected in your family and community if you are exactly like them and follow every rule. The very definition of conditional love. Narrow, potentially deadly set of limits as one of Surie’s children finds out. The communal insularity is claustrophobic, the lack of worldliness is downright alarming. And unlike say the Amish, this is a community right in the middle of a large city, making it even more bizarre. I do understand that for a people who have been treated as terribly throughout times as the Jews, insularity might seem like an appealing way of life. What is more difficult to understand is why a nation that’s been historically ghettoized, would choose to ghettoized themselves, because that’s what life on Division seems to be like, self imposed walls. But at any rate, it was fascinating to learn about and has certainly given much food for thought. Plus it’s a very well written book with a very engaging woman of a certain age protagonist taking the much deserved center stage. Such a good read, thoroughly compelling, essentially done in one sitting, interrupted only by lunch. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

Surie is pregnant with twins. Surie has had a double mastectomy. Surie has been on tamoxifen for several years. Surie is able to hide her pregnancy. Surie lives in an ultra-orthodox community in Williamsburg. SHE IS 57 YEARS OLD. So, with this hodgepodge of situations I found it incredibly difficult to make sense of the plot of this book.

Yes, Surie is a wonderful wife and mother, deeply in love with her husband Yidel. She mourns for her lost son. She is devoted to her religion.

I certainly learned a great deal about the unique community in Williamsburg and enjoyed that aspect of the book.

I must admit to looking up some of the science surrounding this bizarre pregnancy and that questioning took away a great deal of my enjoyment.

Thank you NETGALLEY.